Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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kenship and Andrew Trumbetti. As a result, Day's production could have fallen off, and with reason. In- stead, he opened the season with six tackles — one below his season high last year — in Notre Dame's 48-17 vic- tory over Rice on Aug. 30. Those six tackles came in about 50 snaps, a much higher number than Day averaged last season while he struggled with a bothersome ankle for most of the season, an injury that forced him to miss both the Michigan State and Oklahoma games. While those 50 may be higher than last year, Irish head coach Brian Kelly would prefer Day's snap count rise even fur- ther because he has such an inexperi- enced defensive line. "We need to continue to build on that first game," Kelly said. "He plays so hard. His energy level is so high. His motor is high. It's just a matter of build- ing up each and every week. We started in game one, somewhere in that 50- play range. We hope that it continues to grow and it will from week to week, but that's his cliff. "That's where we start to see a drop- off." For comparison's sake, Jones' snap count peaked at about 30 plays, ac- cording to Kelly. For assurance's sake, Day plans on raising his cliff. "Last year I was down on my num- bers as far as reps go," Day said. "It's just about building your stamina and how hard you can play and how long you can play. It's just about repetitions and playing hard every play. "Especially because of the prepara- tion that we have and still do to get to this level." No one ever doubted Day's motor. In the spring, Nix went so far as to compare Day's playing style and po- tential to former Pittsburgh defensive In the season opener against Rice Aug. 30, Day finished second on the team with six tackles — one stop shy of his season high in 2013. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA